Why IFP?

[Spectrex]

Twelve thousand planets? In one game? No more sleep for me... you guys weren't kidding when you said taking over other empires would be hard.

I guess I could see how it could be implemented, as long as it doesn't become rediculously restrictive... But hey, there are always patches .

Just out of curiosity is the player going to in fact be able to adjust the amount of IFP's?

[Sencho]

Adjusting IFPs.

The idea that's been stated on Moo3 is to make it easily modable through providing the data in spreadsheet form. (This is, of course subject to change, testing, etc.)

So, yes, you could alter the number of IFPs in the game. It may not be a great idea though, as there will most likely be no testing of ridiculous IFP levels. So if you change it, and the game goes all on you, you were warned.

[loinburger]

Re: Adjusting IFPs.

Originally posted by Sencho
The idea that's been stated on Moo3 is to make it easily modable through providing the data in spreadsheet form.

On a slightly related note, will modders be provided with an SDK and a little source code with which they can tweak (or completely rework) the AI? I ask not so much as a modder, but more as someone who would like to use the MOO3 combat system in order to test out some ideas with AI (and give me a leg up in multiplayer games ).

[Sencho]

Tweaking the AI.

I honestly don't know.

But given the sheer quantity of AIs and their complexity, I think tinkering with them would most likely be a bad idea, imo.

[loinburger]

Re: Tweaking the AI.

Originally posted by Sencho
But given the sheer quantity of AIs and their complexity, I think tinkering with them would most likely be a bad idea, imo.

It's never a bad idea to tinker, so long as you save a backup copy first.

[Sencho]

Re: Re: Tweaking the AI.

Originally posted by technophile


It's never a bad idea to tinker, so long as you save a backup copy first.

Anyone here forget that important step? Raise your hand.

[loinburger]

Okay, so I didn't know that Codewarrior saves "backup copies" in place of the original file, i.e. that it overwrites your "working and tested" work with your "not working and/or not tested" work...

Came close to failing my compilers course thanks to that little discovery. Fortunately, I had a hard copy of the "working and tested" version printed out, otherwise I probably wouldn't be graduating this May.

[Comrade Tribune]

Originally posted by Sencho
IFPs allow for micromanagement, but you must choose where you wish to micromanage each turn. With up to 12,000 planets available for colonization, the old build que cycling would take hours of time to complete a single turn. Even with a small empire.

So players can micromanage, but not everything every turn. It's currently looking like 7-9 IFPs per turn, and considering that something like designing as many different ship types as you want consumes just 1, I hope it'd be less of an issue than you believe.

If I had a vote on this (I know I haven´t ), I would prefer fewer (such as 4-6) rather than more IFP´s. Tough choices are good, and I would rather have more turns than more IFP´s/turn .

As to the 12.000 planets, I would prefer a large number of choices (of governments, buildings, ships, strats, techs, policies) to a large number of systems , but I would settle for both.

[Zealot]

Stormhound, are ground battles going to consume IFP's as space battles do?

[Stormhound]

Yes. I believe it'll cost you 1 IFP to run a ground battle, but since there's nothing to "watch" there is no "view only" option as there is for space battles. You just pay your IFP, and set up the options you wish your troops to use. Again, your generals will handle it for you and give an after-action report if you don't do it personally.